Apple denied permission to erect “obtrusive” flagpole at London store

Apple's flagship London store in Regent Street
remains closed on September 16—the day the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
goes on sale in the UK.

Sebastian Anthony

Sebastian Anthony

Sebastian Anthony

Apple's flagship London store has been
closed for refurbishment for months now, and fans might have expected
it to open on the day that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
went on sale—but it remains shuttered after the company was refused
permission to erect an "incongruous and obtrusive" illuminated flagpole
outside the building, Ars has learned.

City of Westminster council's director of
planning John Walker told Apple that it had turned down its application
to install two external light fittings to illuminate flags erected
outside its Regent Street store.

"The illuminated flag and flagpole would be
incongruous and obtrusive features of the street and they would fail to
maintain or improve (preserve or enhance) the character and appearance
of the Regent Street Conservation Area," he said (PDF).

Walker added that Apple's request had been
refused because it failed to meet a number of requirements for the grade
II listed building at 235 Regent Street, Mayfair.

Apple can appeal against the decision, which
was made on August 31—less than a week before the official launch of the
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. However, it's unclear whether the tech
giant will attempt to get the council's decision reversed. The current
appeal status is marked as "unknown."

In a related report (PDF), the council said that Apple's proposal was "unacceptable in principle." It added:

The proposed spotlights are to go on top of
the cornice above the main entrance, beneath the open pediment. The
fittings themselves, though small and coloured to match the stone, are
unnecessary clutter in an architecturally significant part of the
building.

There is a considerable amount of illumination
to building facades in Regent Street, but the illumination of flags and
flagpoles, of which there are many, is not typical.

It is not considered appropriate to illuminate
the flagpoles because this would draw unwarranted attention to a
commercial feature in a night time streetscape that consists mainly of
architectural illumination.

Apple also botched its initial application
seeking planning permission for the external light fittings to the flag
because it failed to pay a fee of £195 to the council, according to correspondence (PDF) dated July 1 this year.

Enlarge/
Unnecessary clutter? Drawing shows Apple's flagpole plans, which have
been turned down by the City of Westminster council for being
"incongruous and obtrusive."

Meanwhile, Apple has been given strict
planning instructions about the refurbishment of its Regent Street
store, which is also likely to have slowed the building work down. It
was given permission to install metal louvres on the north and west
elevations of the property at the first floor level. The end result,
according to the documentation, will be an " internal plant room" where
heavy machinery will be used.

Crossrail is very likely to have
monitoring equipment both the inside of the building and on its external
facades. The equipment is installed under the Crossrail Act 2008 and
records ground movements (measured automatically or manually) and is
essential for the control of ground settlement impact on buildings
during Crossrail's works.

Apple—like any other business in the area
considering construction work—was told that it must "obtain details of
monitoring equipment installed in order to ensure that your works do not
interfere with Crossrail's monitoring equipment."

Work at Apple's flagship London store has been
going on all year. A temporary shop was initially opened to customers
in the basement of the building when the refurbishment first started,
but it has since closed down.

Ars sought comment from Apple on this story.
We asked the company to tell us when it expects the store to reopen, but
it hadn't got back to us at time of publication.

Listing image by Sebastian Anthony

Apple denied permission to erect “obtrusive” flagpole at London store
Reviewed by G Geezgos
on
September 16, 2016
Rating: 5